A former Metropolitan State Hospital police chief and one of his ex-officers have been charged with felony grand theft, accused of submitting phony time cards for at least $40,000 of stolen work at the Norwalk psychiatric facility, officials announced Wednesday.
Donald Santarin Salvador, 44, of Lake Forest, the former chief, and Daniel James Beauregard, 52, of Northridge, face one felony count each of grand theft, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Salvador pleaded not guilty Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is expected to be scheduled on June 8 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Beauregard will be arraigned at a later date.
From November 2022 through April 2023, Salvador and Beauregard are accused of scheming to submit time cards for hours that Beauregard did not spend on police work. Instead, it is alleged he worked on projects for a private business owned by Salvador, Daly Strategic Group LLC, a security consulting company, prosecutors said.
If convicted as charged, each defendant would face up to three years in custody, to be served in county jail.
“We will prove this was a coordinated, deliberate scheme between a police chief and his officer to take taxpayer money for work that was never done,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
“This former police chief and officer clocked in for work; little did we know they would allegedly be working for their own private business and not the people of California,” Hochman continued. “They collected government paychecks while conducting their own side-hustle. That’s not public service, it’s the betrayal of the public’s trust, and we will hold them accountable in court.”